Best class, favourite class Options

[Baronius]

No this is not a poll, rather a discussion topic.

What is the class you think to be the most powerful in BG2 (and ToB), and what is YOUR favourite class?

As for me, I'm sure that the Sorcerer is the most powerful class in the game. It's also a favourite class of me, I think not only because it is strong but also because the Sorcerer's energy comes from his/her veins... anyway I also like the Conjurer a lot.

[Sikret]

Just for the record, let me correct my previous comments on this thread.

My recent tests have indicated that Wild mage is, in principle (though perhaps not always in practice), even more powerful than sorcerer. The ability of casting as many 8th and 9th level spells as the number of first level spells you are allowed to memorize is a great advantage for Wild mages over sorcerers. Furthermore, Wild mage doesn't even need to have the spells memorized nor even needs to qualify the required level to cast them. Combining Improved Alacrity with time stop and then casting a huge number of high level spells beyond the number available even to sorcerers makes wild mage the most powerful class in the game. Sorcerer stands second to wild mages.

Of course the probability of an annoying wild surge in the heat of the fight still exists as a disadvantage, but the advantages are perhaps more than adequate to compensate it.

Furthermore, Sorcerer's limitation of the number of known spells in each spell level may turn to a disadvantage for novice or unexperienced players specially when we concentrate on 6th level spells. The number of important 6th level spells is more than the number of spells a sorcerer can pick from the pool of 6th level spells at medium or even at relatively high levels of experience. Even more important is the order of picking the 6th level spells which may cause problems for unexperienced players. The limitation of the number of known spells exists for other spell levels as well, but it is for the 6th level spells that it may turn to a serious disadvantage if the player doesn't pick them in the right order (unless of course a sorcerer decides to rely on other mage party members for some of those essential spells, which is again a disadvantage in its turn.)

Still, and despite all these points, sorcerer is my favourite class.

This post has been edited by Sikret: Jul 10 2006, 11:14 PM

[CommonSensei]

My recent tests have indicated that Wild mage is, in principle (though perhaps not always in practice), even more powerful than sorcerer. The ability of casting as many 8th and 9th level spells as the number of first level spells you are allowed to memorize is a great advantage for Wild mages over sorcerers. Furthermore, Wild mage doesn't even need to have the spells memorized nor even needs to qualify the required level to cast them. Combining Improved Alacrity with time stop and then casting a huge number of high level spells beyond the number available even to sorcerers makes wild mage the most powerful class in the game. Sorcerer stands second to wild mages.

Of course the probability of an annoying wild surge in the heat of the fight still exists as a disadvantage, but the advantages are perhaps more than adequate to compensate it.

Here's something which isn't documented, but Nahal's Reckless Dweomer has Improved Alacrity built into it. You can cast a spell with Nahal's and as soon as it goes off, you can immediately fire off another Nahal's and start another spell. With the Robe of Vecna and Amulet of Power, you could conceivably get off six Dragon Breath spells in a round, for example. The higher the level (with Improved Chaos Shield up, naturally) the better the chances.

The standard ToB implementation allows for cheezy tactic that puts them over the top into godliness. Chain Contingency allows you to bypass the inability to stack Chaos Shield. Three Improved Chaos Shields on self, activated on sight of the enemy cast by a 20th level Wild Mage will give Nahal's a 99% success rate, and at 23rd level (Color Change at #98 would be the only failure), Nahal's is guaranteed to be successful (the effects at 99 and 100 have the intended spell go off). With this setup, it's safer to cast spells with Nahal's then starting a spell normally, because if you get a surge with a normal spell, your level is not added to the roll and there will be a chance of failure or detrimental effects.

Even without that cheese, a high level Wild Mage is definitely dangerous, double meaning intended.